Abortion, like everything else, it’s all about property rights…

Once upon a time there was a vast land, suddenly known to Europeans. They called it America, after Amerigo Vespucci, the circa 1500 a.d., Florentine explorer. There were people in America already, but along with blankets and baubles to trade, the Europeans brought their favorite traditions: property rights and religion.

The Native Americans did not have same application of ownership of property, land in particular, so over time the Europeans were able to trade the American land away from many tribal territories. Once established in the “New World”, Europeans became Colonists, primarily for the British Crown. Some 250 years into this endeavor, generations of colonists had been born and raised in America. They fought territory wars on behalf of the King of England, and sent many raw materials back to him.

As the mid 1700s passed the colonists found that the governors and other officials, appointed by the King, were the ones benefiting from owning property. After expensive wars such as the French and Indian War, the King levied taxes to recoup those costs. A huge burden was on the consumer class, import taxes on goods from England for daily life. The colonists tried to approach the King with requests to have a representative in his Court so that they might negotiate their own property rights. All queries were rebuffed. After several years of this, one straw too many led to the Boston Tea Party in December 1773, and the public shaming of Benjamin Franklin at the Privy Council in London, January 1774. Franklin came home and worked with his fellow revolutionaries to create the United States of America, and its great Constitution.

It is in this Constitution that great simplicity, and thus great flexibility was established. Our favorites today include freedom of speech, freedom of and from religion, and bearing arms. The one that should be better known to all of us is property rights.

Alito’s gift, Alito’s Curse

Justice Alito is an Originalist, Constitutional Originalist that is. One can tell that “conservatives” are not for everyone because not everyone has property, or so we thought. Alito, the Originalist, reminds us about constitutional property rights. His brief on the overturning of Roe v Wade in the spring of 2022…